Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council hosted a fantastic, free-of-charge event through Irish with the famous author, publisher and musician, Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin, and the broadcaster and writer, Cathal Póirtéir, in the LexIcon Library last Monday 23rd of May as part of Bealtaine Festival 2022. Bealtaine Festival celebrates the arts and creativity as we age.
The famous author, Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin, spoke with the broadcaster and writer, Cathal Póirtéir, to discuss his first novel “Madame Lazare” , which has been very successful and has won numerous awards so far such as:
• Book of the Year at the An Post Book Awards, 2021
• ‘Special recognition’ at the European Union Literature Awards in April 2022
• Oireachtas na Gaeilge award for Literature, 2020
It was a great honour for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that the Uachtarán of Oireachtas na Gaeilge 2022, Máirín de Brún, was in attendance and that she presented the event, Tadhg and Cathal to the crowd. We are very proud that Máirín de Brún is a dlr resident and that she does a lot of fantastic work for the County and for the Irish language and culture.
Signed copies of the book were sold at a reduced rate on the day and tea and refreshments were had after the event to allow those in attendance to converse with Tadhg about his book, an important, innovative book that will be at the forefront of Irish language literature for a long time to come. As Uachtarán an Oireachtais, Máirín de Brún mentioned in her speech at the end of the event: “it is the life of a language to speak it, but it is the permanency of a language to write it”.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council would like to thank Tadhg, Cathal, and Máirín for putting on a great event for those in attendance as well as Carmel Kelly (Senior Executive Librarian in the LexIcon), Siobhán Nic Gaoithín (Senior Staff Officer in the Community & Cultural Development Department), and Conor O’Shea (Irish Language Development Officer) for organising the event.
A big thanks also to the photographer, Peter Cavanagh for the excellent photos taken on the day.
